With ongoing development in manufacturing technologies, hot-melting machines are now in widespread use in many industries. A hot-melting machine is configured for heating two or more workpieces affixed with hot-melting adhesive therebetween, in order to produce a whole workpiece unit. The workpiece unit is then cooled with a cooling mold so as to become hardened. Finally, the workpiece unit is removed from the hot-melting machine.
Referring now to FIG. 6, a typical hot-melting machine 10 is shown. The hot-melting machine 10 includes a worktable 11, and a controller 12 supported on the worktable 11. The worktable 11 includes a raised support platform 13. A heater 14 and a cooler 15 are disposed on the support platform 13, and protrude below the support platform 13. The heater 14 includes a first driving mechanism 141, and a heating board 142 disposed at a bottom end of the first driving mechanism 141 beneath the support platform 13. The cooler 15 includes a second driving mechanism 151, and a cooling mold 152 disposed at a bottom end of the second driving mechanism 152 beneath the support platform 13. A guide rail 16 is disposed on the worktable 11 under the support platform 13. The worktable 11 further includes a carrier 17 and a carrier driving mechanism 18. The carrier driving mechanism 18 is configured for driving the carrier 17 to slide along the guide rail 16. The controller 12 is configured for driving the heater 14, the cooler 15, and the carrier driving mechanism 18 to move.
Referring to FIG. 7, the cooling mold 152 is substantially rectangular. The cooling mold 152 includes a projecting portion 1521. A recessed cooling portion 1522 is formed in the projecting portion 1521 according to a desired shape of a workpiece unit. A plurality of through holes 1523 are defined in a top of the cooling portion 1522. The through holes 1523 run through the cooling mold 152.
Referring also to FIG. 8, in use, a workpiece is affixed to another workpiece by a hot-melting adhesive, in order to form a workpiece unit. The workpiece unit is loaded on the carrier 17. The carrier driving mechanism 18 drives the carrier 17 to move along the guide rail 16 under control of the controller 12, until the workpiece unit aligns with the heater 14. The first driving mechanism 141 drives the heating board 142 to move down toward the workpiece unit under control of the controller 12, until the heating board 142 abuts against the workpiece unit for heating. When a heating process for the workpiece unit is finished, the first driving mechanism 141 drives the heating board 142 to move up and separate from the workpiece unit and return to its original position. The carrier driving mechanism 18 drives the carrier 17 to move along the guide rail 16 until the workpiece unit aligns with the cooler 15. The second driving mechanism 151 drives the cooling mold 152 to move down toward the workpiece unit under control of the controller 12, until the cooling mold 152 abuts against the workpiece unit for cooling. Gas provided by a gas-compressor is injected into the cooling mold 152 via the through holes 1523 to cool the workpiece unit. When a cooling process for the workpiece unit is finished, the second driving mechanism 151 drives the cooling mold 152 to return to its original position. The carrier driving mechanism 18 drives the carrier 17 to move back along the guide rail 16 to return to its original position. Finally, the workpiece unit is unloaded from the carrier 17.
In the hot-melting machine 10, gas provided by the gas-compressor is injected into the cooling mold 152 via the through holes 1523 to cool the workpiece unit. A cooling area of the cooling mold 152 is relatively small, therefore the efficiency of cooling is low. In addition, the through holes 1523 may be defined in the cooling mold 152 randomly, in which case the cooling temperature of the workpiece unit is not uniform.
Therefore, a new cooling mold is desired in order to overcome the above-described shortcomings.